Expert: Linda - 2/24/2010

Question
Hello-
We are cruising on the Carnival Valor on March 7th and just had a few questions. As known, the prices of alcoholic beverages on the ship are very expensive. Is it possible to bring your own liquor/wine on the boat? If so, is there any need to disguise the liquor in water bottles to put in our luggage, or is it sufficient to just make sure we get plastic liquor bottles to pack in our luggage. Also, wine wise, would you recommend just packing box wine or is it even 'alright' to bring wine on the ship? We won't be flying to Miami, so the alcohol on the plane wont be an issue. :)

Also, have you sailed on the Valor? Both of us have only been on one cruise, and were on Royal Caribbean. Could you offer your thoughts or recommendations on the ship and destinations? We are going to grand cayman, belize, honduras, cozumel.

Thanks Linda!!!

Answer
Brian, lots of good questions.  You are not allowed to bring any alcohol on board with you on Carnival ships, nor can you buy at any of the ports and bring on board.  If you purchase on board, alcohol will be kept till the last afternoon then delivered to your cabin...OK, I gave you the speel from carnival....

I always bring a box of wine with me, much better than it used to be and I enjoy having a glass or 2 while I'm dressing for dinner.  Hubby would pack is Seagrams and ginger ale in his checked luggage and bring on board.  We were never stopped in our 29 cruises, but we have talked to many that were and booze was confiscated.  Now if you saw our bar tabs...you'd never know we bought our own on board!  We haven't been on the Valor, so can't comment reliably on that one.

Great ports you're going to.  Grand Caymen, go online to CAPTAINMARVIN.COM  He's a great captain in GC.  Book a trip out to the great barrier reef for a short snorkel, then on to swim with the sting rays. Why Capt marvin?  Smaller ships, a LOT less people,personal attention, he'll even take pics and film you.  It's a short 10 min walk from the pier.  Now, for belize, depends on what you are interested in trying.  Ruins are great, lots of walking, bring solid shoes and extra water.  Great trips offered by the ship, also can get some private vans outside the port.  You can also shorkel and do some diving, some beaches as well.  Honduras, we did a private tour with 4 of us and went all over the island, stopping and bringing food, supplies, games and vitamins to the orphange there.  the other couple wanted to go to the beach and we're not beach people, so dropped them off at the beach and hubby and I went zip lining.  It was FANTASTIC, though I was scared to death the whole time.  Also went to visit a small zoo and met some wonderful little snips for monkeys that stole everything you had.  Cozumel you can go to Playa del Carmen, also ruins there as well.  Again, lots depend on your ages, abilities and interests.

Please go to CRUISECRITIC.COM, join the community (free), navigate to carnival cruise lines, then you'll see a block that says MEET AND MINGLE, find carnival Valor, then the date you're sailing.  You will have the opportunity to chat with others going on your cruise, others will share what they'r edoing and where they're going.  You then all get together and meet on the ship and get to put faces with names.  It's a GREAT place to get to know people.  Many cruisers do a LOT of research into everything they do and share with you.  We've taken private tours for most of our cruises with 1-5 other couples, paid less money, already knew something about the people we'd be with and had the opportunity to customize the excursions.  When the tour companies know you're with a "cruise critic" group, the care is great cause they know we all talk and if we had an unresolved issue or were scammed...they'd get very little business in the future.

Don't know where you're from, but we didn't think the drinks were that expensive.  I paid $5.25 for a glass of wine and $8.25 for top shelf martini, which is what we pay here inthe restaurants.  They also have ships specials for each day as well.

I hope I've answered your questions, let me know if you have any others.  Have a wonderful time Brian.  Bon Voyage

addendum:
sorry, pulled some info I had, for the honduras trip we used ronys....http:ronystours.com

You don't pay till you get there and he'll meet you across the street from the dock.

Linda